Closing arguments at second Sarajevo trial

The Hague, October 10 (Source: B92) - War crimes committed in Sarajevo, Kosovo, and by the Mujahideen, will all be on the Hague agenda this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Hague Tribunal prosecution and defense will present their closing arguments at the trial concerning artillery and sniper terror campaign against Sarajevo and its citizens in 1994 and 1995. The prosecution will call new evidence at the trials for Srebrenica, Herceg Bosna, Mujahideen crimes in Central Bosnia and the abductions and murders of Serb, Roma and Albanian civilians in Kosovo Today and tomorrow, the prosecution and defense will present their closing arguments at the trial of Dragomir Milošević.

The former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) Sarajevo-Romanija Corps (SRK) is on trial for the artillery and sniper terror campaign against Sarajevo and its citizens from August 1994 until November 1995. His predecessor, General Stanislav Galić was sentenced to life for the first stage of the terror against Sarajevo, from 1992 until 1994. The prosecution’s case is that General Milošević, as the SRK commander, is responsible for the death and injuries of civilians who were targeted by artillery and sniper fire as they went about their daily business – buying food, going to school or trying to find water. The prosecution also argues that Milošević further elaborated and expanded the artillery campaign against civilian targets by using modified air bombs, after he took over as the SRK commander. The defense contests all those charges, arguing that Sarajevo was not a "ivilian town, but a battleground where the two armies engaged in fierce fighting and where civilian casualties were inevitable. Bosnian Army units, the defense witnesses testified, held positions dominating the hills around Sarajevo. In the last two years of the war, they were better armed than the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, the defense contests. The defense also tried to prove that many of the incidents listed in the indictment were misrepresented by the prosecution – such as the Markale 2 massacre or the impact of a modified air bomb on the Sarajevo TV building. In most cases, the defense claims, the casualties were the result of an engagement, rifle or artillery fire from both sides, or of deliberate targeting by the Bosnian Army.

The Tribunal’s working week will be cut short because of the observance of a Muslim religious holiday Friday. Four trials will continue. The prosecution will call new evidence at the trial of seven Bosnian Serb military and police officers charged with crimes in Srebrenica and Žepa in 1995 and at the trial of six former Bosnian Croat leaders charged with the crimes in the co-called Herceg Bosna in 1993 and 1994. The prosecution case will continue at the trial of Rasim Delić, charged with the crimes committed by the El Mujahid Detachment in Central Bosnia between 1993 and 1995, and at the trial of the three former KLA leaders charged with the abductions and murders of Serbian, Albanian and Roma civilians in the Dečani area in the spring and summer of 1998.

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